Four Lessons in Versatility or How Query Languages Adapt to the Web

Exposing not only human-centered information, but machine-processable data on the Web is one of the commonalities of recent Web trends. It has enabled a new kind of applications and businesses where the data is used in ways not foreseen by the data providers. Yet this exposition has fractured the Web into islands of data, each in different Web formats: Some providers choose XML, others RDF, again others JSON or OWL, for their data, even in similar domains. This fracturing stifles innovation as application builders have to cope not only with one Web stack (e.g., XML technology) but with several ones, each of considerable complexity. With Xcerpt we have developed a rule- and pattern based query language that aims to give shield application builders from much of this complexity: In a single query language XML and RDF data can be accessed, processed, combined, and re-published. Though the need for combined access to XML and RDF data has been recognized in previous work (including the W3C’s GRDDL), our approach differs in four main aspects: (1) We provide a single language (rather than two separate or embedded languages), thus minimizing the conceptual overhead of dealing with disparate data formats. (2) Both the declarative (logic-based) and the operational semantics are unified in that they apply for querying XML and RDF in the same way. (3) We show that the resulting query language can be implemented reusing traditional database technology, if desirable. Nevertheless, we also give a unified evaluation approach based on interval labelings of graphs that is at least as fast as existing approaches for tree-shaped XML data, yet provides linear time and space querying also for many RDF graphs. We believe that Web query languages are the right tool for declarative data access in Web applications and that Xcerpt is a significant step towards a more convenient, yet highly efficient data access in a “Web of Data”

Enriched Lawvere Theories for Operational Semantics

Enriched Lawvere theories are a generalization of Lawvere theories that allow us to describe the operational semantics of formal systems. For example, a graph enriched Lawvere theory describes structures that have a graph of operations of each arity, where the vertices are operations and the edges are rewrites between operations. Enriched theories can be used to equip systems with operational semantics, and maps between enriching categories can serve to translate between different forms of operational and denotational semantics. The Grothendieck construction lets us study all models of all enriched theories in all contexts in a single category. We illustrate these ideas with the SKI-combinator calculus, a variable-free version of the lambda calculus.Comment: In Proceedings ACT 2019, arXiv:2009.0633

Rate Equations for Graphs

In this paper, we combine ideas from two different scientific traditions: 1) graph transformation systems (GTSs) stemming from the theory of formal languages and concurrency, and 2) mean field approximations (MFAs), a collection of approximation techniques ubiquitous in the study of complex dynamics. Using existing tools from algebraic graph rewriting, as well as new ones, we build a framework which generates rate equations for stochastic GTSs and from which one can derive MFAs of any order (no longer limited to the humanly computable). The procedure for deriving rate equations and their approximations can be automated. An implementation and example models are available online at https://rhz.github.io/fragger. We apply our techniques and tools to derive an expression for the mean velocity of a two-legged walker protein on DNA.Comment: to be presented at the 18th International Conference on Computational Methods in Systems Biology (CMSB 2020

A Bigraphical Vending Machine as a Webservice: From Specification and Analysis to Implementation using the Bigraph Toolkit Suite

A bigraph-driven vending machine is implemented. The application is realized as a Spring-based webservice. Actions can be initiated by REST endpoints. The system follows a rule-based architecture, where possible operations are grounded on a rule set. Bigraphical Reactive Systems are used for the specification and execution. The actual state of the application is a bigraph stored in a database, which can be viewed and altered directly in the database. A history of states is kept - the application can be transferred to any prior state. The application can be updated or extended by merely changing the bigraphical database model.:First Part: A system of a vending machine is specified and analyzed using BDSL. This concerns the static and dynamic aspects of the system. Second Part: The analysis results are re-used for the implementation using Bigraph Framework. The application is realized as a webservice that is built using the Spring framework.Ein bigraph-gesteuerter Verkaufsautomat wird implementiert. Die Anwendung ist als Spring-basierter Webservice realisiert. Aktionen können über REST-Endpunkte initiiert werden. Das System folgt einer regelbasierten Architektur, bei der die möglichen Operationen auf einem Regelsatz beruhen. Für die Spezifikation und Ausführung werden Bigraphical Reactive Systems verwendet. Der aktuelle Zustand der Anwendung ist ein in einer Datenbank gespeicherter Bigraph, der direkt in der Datenbank eingesehen und verändert werden kann. Es wird eine Historie der Zustände geführt - die Anwendung kann in einen beliebigen früheren Zustand überführt werden. Die Anwendung kann aktualisiert oder erweitert werden, indem lediglich das bigraphische Datenbankmodell geändert wird.:First Part: A system of a vending machine is specified and analyzed using BDSL. This concerns the static and dynamic aspects of the system. Second Part: The analysis results are re-used for the implementation using Bigraph Framework. The application is realized as a webservice that is built using the Spring framework

Category theory : definitions and examples

Category theory was invented as an abstract language for describing certain structures and constructions which repeatedly occur in many branches of mathematics, such as topology, algebra, and logic. In recent years, it has found several applications in computer science, e.g., algebraic specification, type theory, and programming language semantics. In this paper, we collect definitions and examples of the basic concepts in category theory: categories, functors, natural transformations, universal properties, limits, and adjoints

Symbolic Analysis of Maude Theories with Narval

[EN] Concurrent functional languages that are endowed with symbolic reasoning capabilities such as Maude offer a high-level, elegant, and efficient approach to programming and analyzing complex, highly nondeterministic software systems. Maude's symbolic capabilities are based on equational unification and narrowing in rewrite theories, and provide Maude with advanced logic programming capabilities such as unification modulo user-definable equational theories and symbolic reachability analysis in rewrite theories. Intricate computing problems may be effectively and naturally solved in Maude thanks to the synergy of these recently developed symbolic capabilities and classical Maude features, such as: (i) rich type structures with sorts (types), subsorts, and overloading; (ii) equational rewriting modulo various combinations of axioms such as associativity, commutativity, and identity; and (iii) classical reachability analysis in rewrite theories. However, the combination of all of these features may hinder the understanding of Maude symbolic computations for non-experienced developers. The purpose of this article is to describe how programming and analysis of Maude rewrite theories can be made easier by providing a sophisticated graphical tool called Narval that supports the fine-grained inspection of Maude symbolic computations.This work has been partially supported by the EU (FEDER) and the Spanish MCIU under grant RTI2018-094403-B-C32, by the Spanish Generalitat Valenciana under grants PROMETEO/2019/098 and APOSTD/2019/127, and by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-17-1-0286.Alpuente Frasnedo, M.; Escobar Román, S.; Sapiña-Sanchis, J.; Ballis, D. (2019). Symbolic Analysis of Maude Theories with Narval. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming. 19(5-6):874-890. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1471068419000243S874890195-

An algebraic semantics for QVT-relations check-only transformations

Fundamenta Informaticae, 114 1, Juan de Lara, Esther Guerra, An algebraic semantics for QVT-relations check-only transformations, 73-101, Copyright 2012, with permission from IOS PressQVT is the standard for model transformation defined by the OMG in the context of the Model-Driven Architecture. It is made of several transformation languages. Among them, QVT-Relations is the one with the highest level of abstraction, as it permits developing bidirectional transformations in a declarative, relational style. Unfortunately, the standard only provides a semiformal description of its semantics, which hinders analysis and has given rise to ambiguities in existing tool implementations. In order to improve this situation, we propose a formal, algebraic semantics for QVT-Relations check-only transformations, defining a notion of satisfaction of QVT-Relations specifications by models.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with projects METEORIC (TIN2008-02081) and Go Lite (TIN2011-24139), and by the R&D program of the Community of Madrid with project “e-Madrid” (S2009/TIC-1650)